This invention concerns time expansion and compression apparatus suitable for use in a widescreen television system.
A conventional television receiver, such as a receiver in accordance with NTSC broadcast standards adopted in the United States and elsewhere, has a 4:3 aspect ratio (the ratio of the width to the height of a displayed image). Recently, there has been interest in using higher aspect ratios for television receiver systems, such as 2:1, 16:9 or 5:3, since such higher aspect ratios more nearly approximate or equal the aspect ratio of the human eye than does the 4:3 aspect ratio of a conventional television receiver. Video information signals with a 5:3 aspect ratio having received particular attention since this ratio approximates that of motion picture film, and thus such signals can be transmitted and received without cropping the image information.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, there are disclosed herein method and apparatus for time expanding and compressing a widescreen video signal representing a picture having an aspect ratio greater than the standard 4:3 aspect ratio, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,383--M. A. Isnardi, for example.